Spring!

It has been a pretty warm winter here near the Puget Sound and from what I read, it will likely continue that way. Last week I picked my first batch of nettles (Urtica dioica), some of them were already nearly a foot tall. I have seen house flies buzzing around for the first time in what seems like a few months. Indian plum is well on its way to being leafed out. I'm not sure if it is related to spring or not (seems like it might be), but my cat caught and ate two mice (or at least that is how many he brought in to the house) after having had a pretty dry spell for the last couple of months.

It's an exciting time of year. I will be headed on a trip south for a couple of weeks and when I get back it will be time to start putting in some work on the garden!

Spring Walk

The weather around here has been strange as of late. It snowed again a couple of days ago. It was nice and sunny today though, so I rousted myself for a walk. It's been a few weeks since I've been on a walk in my neighborhood and there have definitely been some spring changes.

I've been seeing the indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) budding as I drove by it on the roads, but up close I could see the flowers starting to come out. One of my favorite observations on the walk was hearing a winter wren singing - they have such a lovely voice. I'd been hearing occasional other birds sing around the house, but this was the first winter wren song of the year for me.

I made it down to the park and basked in the sun for awhile. In my last basking spot I heard an owl call (I believe it was a barred owl). It called once more as I went to investigate/try and see it, but I was unable to spot it. Seemed odd to hear an owl in the middle of the afternoon.